POETRY MEMORIZATIONS/IMITATIONS

Two
times per semester you will need to memorize a minimum of 14 lines of poetry of
your choice (from the Anthology and by one of the poets we are studying) or
write an imitation of a poem. You can choose a couple of stanzas from a
long poem or a short poem to memorize. Please make sure that if you
memorize something from the middle of a longer poem that you stop at a logical
place. Please don't stop mid-sentence once you have your 14 lines, for
example. You should strive to imitate the style of
the writer (rhyme scheme, tone, meter, etc.) as closely as possible. You
may change the subject of the poem, but attempt to write about that subject as
if the particular poet you are imitating were writing about it. The
imitations are due by 2:00 P.M. PST and memorizations will be done in class.
You need to do one imitation and one memorization each semester.

Student Examples of Poetry Imitations

As you work on your imitations, keep in mind that your work
should closely resemble the work of the poet you have chosen. You can choose a
specific poem to imitate or you can imitate the poet’s general style. If you
choose to imitate general style, be sure to choose a poet whose style is easy to
identify and well-structured.

The following imitations attempt to mimic a particular
poet’s use of rhyme scheme, meter, use of imagery and other distinctives that
set one poet apart from another. I have placed the original poems first, with
the students’ imitations following.

The first imitation seeks to emulate the poetry of William
Blake. This student has not picked a specific poem to imitate, but she seeks to
copy Blake’s use of imagery and rhyme and diction. This means that her choice
of words is appropriate to Blake’s time period and work. Her subject matter is
also befitting of William Blake.

The
next imitation corresponds to “The Stolen Child” by W.B. Yeats. This student
has effectively imitated his rhyme scheme and the use of an italicized refrain.
Her use of imagery is also evocative of Yeats.

Where
the towers rise above
And streets are jammed with cars,
Where people push and shove
And smog dares dim the stars
Apartments stagger high

And
seem to deeply sigh
The lonely tree
Echoes a yearning to be free.Move afar, O weary soulWhere the green hills gently rollAnd the people there are few,For the city's filled with havoc, and
not the place for you.

Where
the moonlight slumbers upon
An empty parking lot,
The bubbled letters once ill drawn
Reflect a distant shot
Two cars let out a screech
Waking people with in reach
From the refuge that they sought
Where life slips to dreams
And they live another life
Nearly devoid of daily strife,
'Till the sun does brightly beamMove afar, O weary soulWhere the green hills gently rollAnd the people there are few,For the city's filled with havoc, and
not the place for you.

This next example is taken
from a World War I poem. The student wrote about mountain biking instead,
but he effectively imitates the poet's style.

Returning, We Hear The Larks
by Isaac Rosenburg

Sombre the night is:
And, though we have our lives, we know
What sinister threat lurks there.

Dragging these anguished limbs, we only know
This poison-blasted track opens on our camp -
On a little safe sleep.

Death could drop from the dark
As easily as song -
But song only dropped,
Like a blind man's dreams on the sand
By dangerous tides:
Like a girl's dark hair for she dreams no ruin lies there,
Or her kisses where a serpent hides.

"The Trail"

by Chris Haynes

Slippery the trail is.

And though my tires are fat, I know

The danger of the narrow track.

Pumping my straining legs, I only know

This devil-hellish trail must lead somewhere good-

To a place of ease.

But pain! ruts-ruts-strange ruts.

No! trickish grooves tampering in my path.

Slippery holes luring me in to painful death.

Mires could evolve from sure ground

As could death traps-

And evolve they did,

Like ruthless spider from tunnel unaware

Upon innocent victims.

The path slick, the trail rutted, the way treacherous,

But I would not trade it for the world.

The final example is an imitation of Shakespeare’s sonnet
style. This student has used Shakespeare’s rhyme scheme and imagery and
attempted to follow his meter as well. He has put a twist into his sonnet by
making it about a humorous subject, but he has written about it with a serious
tone. Shakespeare’s sonnets are always serious in subject matter and tone.